Which tool do you use for GTD Projects?

11-15-2010, 08:00 PM

I have access to tools like MS Project, Mind Map Pro, Excel spread sheet, OneNote; I am guy who uses pen and paper to captures all the stuff and uses index cards for all the items in list. Suggest me tool for my GTD Projects.

For me there is no direct conversion of the GTD Project's action items into my pen and paper tool. The way I can do is to take out the action item from my project (I use MS Project here) into my context list is by re-writing them by hand. Is that a good way to do?

Or should I go on spree of creating projects using post-it-note on a wall with indents for all the notes, thus each note can be moved up and down or left or right.

I have one more question, Does the GTD user, plucks action item from the GTD project and stack it/stash it in context list for executing it in future or does he execute straight form his Project Plan?

I'm not quite sure what you are doing. I have just started using MS Project for planning projects, but I use my iPhone for all my actions. To me MS Project is a support tool for planning projects, and the tasks in MS Project become my GTD projects. So my action lists are not stored in MS Project, they are stored in my phone, there is no re-writing.

Comment

For me there is no direct conversion of the GTD Project's action items into my pen and paper tool. The way I can do is to take out the action item from my project (I use MS Project here) into my context list is by re-writing them by hand. Is that a good way to do?

I would probably do it this way if I was using pen and paper, yes. (I actually use Outlook.)

I have one more question, Does the GTD user, plucks action item from the GTD project and stack it/stash it in context list for executing it in future or does he execute straight form his Project Plan?

For me, each project is an Outlook task, and if I've made a project plan, it is in the Notes field for that task. I usually only make a plan for the more complex projects - for the simpler ones, I just define one Next Action at a time. I create the Next Action as a separate task. That means that if I've made a project plan, the Next Action may be in two places - it could be listed once as a step on the plan, and once on a context list. In that case, to get it onto the context list I either re-type it or cut and paste it, depending on how long it is. I might execute straight from the project plan if I can see that the next step is going to take two minutes or less, but normally I execute from my context lists.

Comment

When it is time to get things done, you do not want to have to go anywhere but your lists to find what to do.

If it is stuck in a Project Plan, then you will have more places to search for things to do. Chances are, you won't.

Keep a list of Next Actions and use that.

If you are a pen and paper-only person, then you may have a Project Plan in your project folder, for example, but the Next Actions will be on your Next Actions lists... which you want available to you wherever and whenever you will be in a position to do anything on them.